A device that lets you skip across the water might just be this summer's new hot toy. The AquaSkipper, a self-propelled light-weight combination of what looks like a child's scooter and a pogo stick lets riders glide across the water at speeds upwards of 17 mph.
"The target audience is for anyone who is interested in new things," Shane Chen of Invetest, the firm that designed the AquaSkipper, told the Daily Mail. "It is fun and different. It's totally human-powered and environmentally-friendly."
Riders hold the handlebars of the AquasSkipper and bounce up and down on its spring-loaded platform, using the flipper attached to it to create a hydrofoil-style motion, lifting the front of the AquaSkipper out of the water and thrusting it forward at the same time. "You push off from a pontoon or piece of land. Every time you jump the force of your weight compresses the fiberglass spring," Chen said.
"The front foil is locked to a constant height in the water by a piece of plastic known as the skimmer, which planes on the surface of the water," Chen said.
Stopping the bouncing motion, however, will swiftly lead to a sinking of the Aquaskipper. "The AquaSkipper itself will not sink, however, in order to keep it up and out of the water, the rider needs to keep jumping."
With no mechanical parts to deal with, the AquaSkipper is a snap to take apart and transport to your favorite lake or even ocean. At six feet long, it weighs 26 pounds and is made of aircraft aluminum and fiberglass.
Watch the AquaSkipper in action in this video:
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